Lamb leads the way as Seahawks cruise
Silverdale Baptist Academy senior Brody Lamb is well established as a crafty left-hander who is locked in whenever he steps on the pitching mound.
In a 16-1 home win against Signal Mountain on Thursday night, the Seahawks slugger showed he can hit a moving target.
Lamb provided a loud bang in the third inning, when he crushed a ball onto Bonny Oaks Drive that hit the side of a passing car nearly 360 feet away from home plate. It was part of a five-RBI performance by Lamb, who also struck out a half-dozen Eagles as he had his fastball, changeup and curveball all working for him over four scoreless innings.
“You know what you are going to get from Brody as a pitcher, because he is always
in the zone,” Seahawks coach Lance Rorex said. “Brody is a football mentality-type guy who plays baseball. But since he doesn’t have football to look forward to, he understands his time is coming to an end here. So he is putting more work in the cages than ever before and trying to make sure he empties his tank to leave a legacy for teams to come.”
With 14 seniors, Silverdale is again a power in TSSAA Division II-A after winning 32 games and making it to the Spring Fling state tournament last year.
Lamb’s bomb came just two at-bats after junior Owen Phillips also homered from the lefthanded side of the batter’s box. Phillips and senior Ian Reagan both drove in three runs, while senior Brett Rogers scored four runs and had a hard-hit single up the middle to contribute to the nine total hits by the Seahawks (4-3).
Senior Turner Junkins, now batting .571 after hitting safely in six games this season, went 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Freshman designated hitter Derron Watson drove in a pair of runs, and senior Eric Boggess nearly homered on an opposite-field RBI double to right.
“Turner’s energy and communication has been great this season,” Rorex said. “This is a very senior-led group who works extremely hard. I was proud of Owen tonight. He made a nice adjustment yesterday in the cages to shorten up his swing, and he was able to do that and really get the barrel of the bat to the ball.”
Class 3A’s Signal Mountain (5-4) was led by Jake Edmondson and Cash Keene with two hits apiece. Edmondson drove the ball down the left-field line in the third for the only extrabase hit off Lamb.
Ben Timblin scored the Eagles’ lone run in the fifth, when Keene sent a hard, sinking liner to center for a double. Timblin has a nine-game hitting streak to start the season and is 17-for-31 with 12 RBIs.